Angry Birds theme park opens in China
Angry Birds addicts around the world may still be committed to the ultimate destruction of the game's irritating porcine rogues, but at a real-life Angry Birds theme park (愤怒的小鸟), Chinese gamers are already knocking over actual green pigs.
The Angry Birds theme park opened to the public on September 1 in Changsha, the capital of Hunan province in southeastern China.
The attraction is part of the larger Window of the World amusement park (长沙世界之窗).
The Angry Birds theme park facility was built as part of the park’s monthlong Stress-reducing Festival.
Simulating the action of the viral computer game, players pull a real catapult and shoot Angry Birds plush toys at green piggy balloons placed around a toy brick fortress.
“This [Angry Birds theme park] serves as a method for people to purge themselves and to gain happiness,” an anonymous park official told Chinese gaming website Gamesky.com.
The 400,000-square-meter Window of the World is Changsha’s major recreational attraction.
The Angry Birds playground is located within the park’s American Zone, next to a scaled-down replica of Mount Rushmore.
The Angry Birds game is slated to operate until the end of September. But according to park marketing manager Ye Xiumei (叶秀梅), Window of the World may delay closing the attraction.
Ye also says that the Angry Birds theme park has not received as much attention as expected, due to the opening of school terms and lack of promotion.
The playground is not an officially licensed Angry Birds product.
What is official is that Rovio, the computer game company that developed Angry Birds, has released a line of Angry Birds moon cakes in China to celebrate the country's Mid-autumn Festival.
Angry Birds moon cakes are available on taobao.com.
Window of the World, 485 Sanyi Ave., Changsha 长沙三一大道485号, 8:30 a.m.-7 p.m., Ticket hotline: +86 731 8425 6988, www.colorfulworld.cn
Entry fee for Window of the World is RMB 90 (US$14). No additional fee is required to use the Angry Birds theme park.
